


The Christmas Market

by birdeynamnam



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: Gen, Hey Audrey I hope you like it, Its you!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9049447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdeynamnam/pseuds/birdeynamnam
Summary: Audrey goes to a Christmas Market with her friends from Asagao Academy





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Audrey Pauer](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Audrey+Pauer).



> Written by Birdeynamnam for Audrey, for the YungFam 2016 Secret Santa Gift Exchange

“Look at the puppers!” Jimmy squealed and stormed off with Luke hot on his trail.

They had just arrived at the Higanbana Christmas market, and immediately the Hidden Block guys were running off in different directions. Audrey, Hana and Mai had come along since they were all good friends of the guys, and they had a week off of school for Christmas. It had been snowing heavily the last couple days, but now the snowflakes were falling slowly. Everyone but Luke had just a few speckles in their hair from the short walk from Asagao. The girls watched as Satch tried to keep a bit of order amongst the Normal Boots guys. 

“Hey, maybe we should split up into smaller groups or pairs, to make sure no one is alone.”

“It’ll be fine,” Shane interjected. “We’re all friends here, and it’s not like we’re gonna lose each other here.” Shane gestured to the market, which was small enough that you could see from one end to the other, and though there were people, the market was in no way crowded. The yellow and black Hidden Block jackets were easy to spot as they peeked out here and there in the crowd.

“Yeah, I guess. But…” Satch tried, but the Continue? guys had already run off, and PBG was staring longingly after Jeff. “Okay...” He said defeatedly, and PBG excitedly ran after Jeff like a puppy after it’s owner. 

“Don’t worry, Satch!” Jirard said, all smiles as always. “I heard a rumour that someone’s selling Itty Bitty Kitty knitted plushies here and I really wanna get one! It’s of course very limited edition ‘cause they’re handmade and…” Jirard’s voice faded as he grabbed Satch’s arm and pulled him along into the crowd, Satch now smiling fondly.

“What do you guys wanna look at?” Hana turned and asked the girls.

Mai’s eyes widened with excitement. “Let’s go get food first!”

“Mai, we literally had breakfast an hour ago,” Hana retorted, completely deadpan.

“So?” Mai said, her excitement not dulled in the slightest by Hana’s lack of enthusiasm.

Hana looked to Audrey for help. 

“I think I’m gonna see what the guys are looking at,” Audrey said, not wanting to get roped into another of their daily arguments. She quickly walked away before they could object, but when she turned around, she saw Hana buying Mai a sugar covered pretzel, which was so huge even Mai would need help eating it.

Audrey turned back to the crowd, scanning it for familiar faces -- or jackets. She spotted Jimmy and Luke, and trampled over to them through the newly fallen snow.

“Hey what’s- oh!” Audrey cut herself off when she spotted a booth full of dogs in cute little Christmas costumes. Jimmy was holding a retriever mix and sobbing into its coat. “Whyy? ... Why can’t I adopt all of them? ... I need all of them…” Jimmy whined between sobs.

“They all need a home, but sadly we can’t sell to anyone under 18.” The woman in the booth said. “Instead you should tell your parents about us.”

That pulled Jimmy out of his stupor and rushed off with his cellphone presumably to call his parents.

“Hello and merry Christmas,” the woman said to Audrey. “And welcome to the Higanbana Animal Shelter’s booth.”

“Merry Christmas,” she smiled back. “Can I pet the dogs?” she asked.

“Yes of course! They enjoy the attention,” the woman answered, smiling. “We put the small ones in costumes, so they won’t get cold. And then we don’t want the big dogs to feel left out.”

They looked over at Luke who was “borrowing” one of the dog’s costumes. It was a small green elf hat, which he wore on top of his usual hat. He turned to Audrey and smirked. 

“Don’t I look festive?”

Audrey just shook her head, but couldn’t help smiling at his ridiculousness.

“Oh!” Luke exclaimed, turning to the woman from the animal shelter. “Do you have cats?” he asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Yes, but you’d have come by the shelter for those. They don’t like the cold.”

“Okay! I know where Ian and I are going on Saturday,” he mumbled to himself, clearly very excited as a plan was forming in his head. Audrey didn’t want to interrupt for fear of wiping that cute little smile off his face. Luke walked off in a haze, forgetting to give back the elf hat. 

“Oh, I can get it back for you,” Audrey offered, but the woman waved her off. 

“No, it’s fine. We got them in a bundle and have plenty left back at the shelter. Besides…” she glanced around before leaning in. “It was my partner who got them, and I think they’re actually really ugly.” She made a face, and they both started giggling.

After getting around to pet every single dog, Audrey decided to go off to find some of the guys. She was starting to feel cold, so she opted for a cup of hot chocolate. However, when she walked up to the stand, she found the Continue? guys messing around. Judging by their history of knocking people over while holding food, it would be a very dangerous choice to bring a boiling hot drink into the mix. Audrey could wait for later. Instead she turned towards the back end of the market, where she could see PBG and Jeff talking to a man in a booth.

“Yeah, so we’re holding a snowman/ice sculpture competition. If you wanna compete, just make a snowman here and we’ll announce the winner later this week.”

PBG turned to Jeff. “Let’s do it!” He turned to Audrey. “Oh hey, Audrey! You wanna help?” He smiled shyly. “I mean if you want… of course… I mean...” He frowned.

“Sure!” Audrey said, smiling.

“Oh! Okay, cool!” He smiled back at her.

Jeff suggested that they did a sculpture of Jingle from Animal Village, and the others agreed. PBG and Jeff gathered the snow, and Audrey sculpted the details. When they were done, Audrey stepped back and looked the sculpture over a final time. 

“It’s done!”

(Somewhere in the distance a voice yelled, “Did I hear someone say completed?”)

“It’s perfect!” Jeff said, and PBG nodded solemnly.

Audrey looked at her hands, which were all red and numb now. She brought them to her face and blew on them to warm them up.

“Oh are your hands cold? Here you can borrow my gloves!” Jeff said with the wide smile that never seemed to leave his face. They were already nice and warm from Jeff having worn them.

_BOOF_

A flurry of snowflakes fluttered around them as a snowball hit Jeff in the back of his head. 

“I’m sorry Jeff! I was aiming for Moosey, but your big head got in the way!” Clearly Caddy was the offender who had thrown the snowball.  
Despite the halfhearted apology, Jeff took that as a declaration of war. 

“Oh no, Caddy. You’re not getting away with that so easily!” 

Soon the air was filled with snowballs flying back and forth. Audrey hurried to duck behind the snow sculpture, where she found PBG cowering as well. 

“Oh hey,” she said. 

“Hi,” he answered, clearly distracted by the yells and grunts coming from the other guys. Audrey peeked out at them. Continue? and Jon had joined Caddy’s side, so Jeff and Ian were seriously outnumbered. 

“We have to help them,” Audrey said, clenching her fist and justice shining in her eyes. PBG watched her in awe. 

“You’re right,” he said with determination, and quickly they made a pile of snowballs. 

“Let’s go!” Audrey yelled, emerging from behind the snowman flinging snowballs at the other team at great speeds. Within no time they had the other team cowering behind booths or trees to avoid Audrey’s wrath. Audrey felt a rush of adrenaline and the thrill of the fight. Until... 

_THUNK_

__Audrey stopped moving as a snowball hit her in the back of her head. She could feel the snow slowly melting and sliding down the back of her jacket. She slowly turned around. PBG was covering his mouth with his hands, his face so heated he was probably melting the snow in a one-yard radius around him. Jeff was bent over next to him, wheezing with laughter. Everyone else paused their fighting and turned to watch. Audrey picked the remnants of the snowball out of her hood and shivered as more snow slipped under her jacket._ _

__“I am so sorry-” PBG finally said._ _

__“I thought we were on the same team,” Audrey said coldly. PBG’s eyes widened._ _

__“We were-” PBG tried, but Audrey interrupted him._ _

__“I can’t believe you would turn on me like that. Mid battle. My own brother in arms,” Audrey continued, as Jeff cracked up and nearly fell over in laughter._ _

__“Audrey…” PBG tried despairingly._ _

__“Maybe you can make it up to me,” Audrey said with a smile. “I’m getting pretty thirsty.”_ _

__PBG nodded enthusiastically. “Okay.”_ _

__He got her a big cup of hot chocolate and they left the christmas market. They all chattered on the way back to Asagao, and some showed off the things they’d gotten. Jirard had bought a gigantic scarf that was so big it could be wrapped all around his body and nearly cover all of it. Shane had gotten a pretty, hand painted christmas ornament for his mom back in England. Audrey hadn’t bought anything, but she wasn’t going home empty-handed. She had a full stomach and some new memories with her friends. She smiled to herself._ _

__When they got back to Asagao, they all gathered in a couple of the guys’ rooms to play video games. Most of the Japanese students had gone home for the holidays, so they were practically the only ones there. At first they were all excited about the game, but soon they were drifting off one by one. The warmth and comfort as they shared blankets and snuggled up finally got the best of them. Audrey was the last to fall asleep, and as she looked over them a final time, she thought how happy she was to call these people her friends. Or rather family. And who better to spend Christmas with than family._ _


End file.
